freshwater crabs for African Cichlid Tank? (freshwater big fish)

I have a 180G African Cichlid tank. PH 7.8 GH 16. It’s very
understocked at the moment with only 5 fish in it, only two at the 6″
mark.

I’m also a big fan of various sorts of crabs. I was wondering does
anyone have any experience putting crabs into a Cichlid tank and if so,
what are the recommendations on the type of crab to go with and any
special care instructions.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thank you,
Kevin

Mombu 2008-09-24 10:27:52

I friend of mine had fiddler crabs with cichlids in it. They are very
cool. They would “put-up-thier-dukes” when the cichlids got to close,
very funny. They got out all the time though, even climbing up the
intake for the filter. He eventually put chickenwire over his tank.

Dc 2008-09-24 10:27:58

Not surprising. Most fiddler crabs are more terrestrial than aquatic.

Dc 2008-09-24 10:27:59

Many freshwater and brackish crabs like to live in the shallows where they
have access to land.

At work we have kept various types of crabs in our African display tank,
but they all tend to hang out near the top of the aquarium where they reach
the surface of the water.

We’ve had red Asian crabs, moon crabs (really big), and rainbow crabs
(looks like but is not a true crab) as well as various types of crayfish
(aka freshwater lobster). I don’t have their Latin names unfortunately.

Most of them time they get along fine with African cichlids, but
occasionally a large or really belligerent fish destroys the odd
crustacean.

Swarvegorilla 2008-09-24 10:28:00

I had problems with ‘joker mouths’ on my cichlids when I tried the crayfish
seems some fish swim into caves occupied by clawed ones and get cut like
that
shame too as ruins ya chicks with africans